I am so angry my head might explode. You stupid pieces of crap in Congress. Why not just shoot us because we certainly can't afford health care anymore. You know what?
Like millions of others, I have been without health insurance for a very long time. The cost in my state is between $600-$800 a month in premiums. Yeah, like that's doable.
I can't get a decent job with decent benefits BECAUSE COMPANIES DON'T HIRE MY AGE GROUP! Why? It costs them too much in insurance premium hikes. With my whopping $681 Social Security I certainly can't afford the Health Exchange premiums, which will suck eggs in "Screw Low Income People Utah".
Too responsible to qualify for Medicaid because I paid off my home. If you own more than a couch, some pots and pans, and newer than a 1980 car you disqualify for Medicaid in Utah.
I've been hanging on, not doing anything where I might get injured, until I reach 65 in 2013 so I can get a complete complimentary check up which I can't afford to do now.
So, when I finally arrive at the MUCH ANTICIPATED ELIGIBILITY IN 2013, I won't be eligible. Really?
SCREW YOU ALL, you cheap, heartless, even murderous pieces of crap!
I'm so tired of the KISS THE ASSES OF THE RICH & POWERFUL politicians in DC and the States I might just implode before I EVER see a Medicare benefit.
Is that the plan? Are you hoping we will die from lack of medical care. If so,
OUR BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS you pompous, ignorant, rock-hearted jerks!
Details in this Report
From the Kaiser Foundation Report:
RAISING THE AGE OF MEDICARE ELIGIBILITY:
A Fresh Look Following Implementation of Health Reform (below the fold)
Also, this diary inspired the writing of the this diary:
IT'S JUST A BAD IDEA written today by Horace Boothroyd III
"From the black hole of the stupidest of the stupid ideas we now have this:
Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Tom Coburn(R-Okla.) acknowledged that there's something in their Medicare plan for just about everyone to dislike. But they say it's necessary to bring the program under control.
"Nobody's going to like this plan. We understand that," Coburn said at a press conference Tuesday as he and Lieberman rolled out their proposal."
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS DIARY. For a bit more history and absurdity from Stupid Congress.
From the Kaiser Foundation Report:
This study examines the expected key effects of raising the age of Medicare eligibility to age 67. We assume full implementation in 2014, rather than the more common assumption of a gradual increase, to illustrate the likely effects once fully phased in. We also assume full implementation of the 2010 health reform law. A full discussion of assumptions and their expected effects is included in the Technical Appendix. Key findings include:
Federal spending would be reduced, on net, by $5.7 billion in 2014. This includes gross federal savings of $31.1 billion, offset by new costs for federal premium and cost-sharing subsidies under the Exchange ($9.4 billion), expanded coverage under Medicaid ($8.9 billion), and a reduction in Medicare premium receipts ($7.0 billion).
Seven million people age 65 or 66 at some point in 2014 would be affected by the policy change for one or more months. This number is equivalent to five million people affected for a full 12 months. Of that five million, we estimate 42 percent would turn to employer-sponsored plans for health insurance, either as active workers or retirees, 38 percent would enroll in the Exchange, and 20 percent would become covered under Medicaid.
Two-thirds of adults ages 65 and 66 affected by the proposal are projected to pay more out-of- pocket, on average, in premiums and cost sharing under their new source of coverage than they would have paid under Medicare. However, nearly one in three are projected to have lower out-of-pocket costs than they would have had if covered by Medicare, on average, mainly due to provisions in the health reform law that provide subsidies to the low-income population through Medicaid and the Exchange.
Premiums in the Exchange would rise for adults under age 65 by three percent (an additional $141 per enrollee in 2014), on average, due to the shift of older adults from Medicare into the pool of lives covered by the Exchange.
Medicare Part B premiums would increase by three percent in 2014, as the deferred enrollment of relatively healthy, lower-cost beneficiaries would raise the average cost across remaining beneficiaries.
In addition, costs to employers are projected to increase by $4.5 billion in 2014 and costs to states are expected to increase by $0.7 billion.
In the aggregate, raising the age of eligibility to 67 in 2014 is projected to result in an estimated net increase of $3.7 billion in out-of-pocket costs for those ages 65 and 66 who would otherwise have been covered by Medicare.**
This analysis underscores the importance of carefully assessing the distributional effects of various Medicare savings proposals to understand the likely impact on beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
This isn't what I voted for in 2008. I never wanted the pony.
I just wanted health care I could afford when I turned 65 in 2013.
THE PROBLEM IS THE HUGE COSTS OF MEDICAL TREATMENT.
My 79 year old neighbor felt sick and spent 5 days in the hospital. Not intensive care. In a shared room with another patient. The food sucked, the care sucked. He didn't get better and they sent him home. He died a few days later.
The cost for hanging out in the hospital dorm for 5 days for tests and under observation?
$50,000 billed to Medicare.
THAT'S THE FREAKEN PROBLEM!
How is that even close to being justified?
And the POS Congress seems loathe to rein in the gouging prices of health care.
Shame on them all. I hope they reap what they sow.
PS
Will those who are 65 and 66 lose Medicare?
For Medicare, Looming Federal Cuts Could Cause Eligibility Revisions
But a new report released Aug. 23 by the non-profit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that such a move could not only fail to constrain healthcare costs across the economy but would actually increase them.
“While this proposal would save the federal government money, it would do so by shifting costs to most of the 65- and 66-year-olds who would lose Medicare coverage, to employers that provide health coverage for their retirees, to Medicare beneficiaries, to younger people who buy insurance through the new health insurance exchanges, and to states,” the report says.
MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR WE THE PEOPLE TO FORM OUR OWN INSURANCE COMPANY and find some good doctors willing to help build a clinics to help ourselves.
Living a long life just isn't looking all that wonderful in America anymore, that's for sure.
My parents were the last generation to receive what they were promised.
Shame on CONGRESS!